My Family
by Iffert's Flame
Summary: This Christmas Wade's family comes to visit him. Dedicated to all of the only children of the world, no matter what age you are.


Timeline: Two years after Graduation.

This story is dedicated to all of those children of the world who act brave for their mothers in this time of year. Merry Christmas.

Disney owns everyone represented here…

Iffert's Flaming One-Shots 

**Proudly Presents**

**My Family**

Wade looked forlornly at his computer. At fifteen he had done more behind that computer then most adults would have done in a lifetime. With that computer, he had saved lives, coordinated rescues, and protected the security of one of the lands most semi-secret organization. With everything that existed in cyberspace, there was one thing that he could not do: that was holding the person that he cared most about.

Falling in love, at thirteen should have been more frivolous, something that could have been dismissed, and even more easily for him since their relationship was based in cyberspace. In there, even if he could see her beautiful red locks, he's never known how they smelled; he could see the wondrous face full of freckles yet, didn't know the softness of her touch and even when they kissed each other's face on screen, he had never known how it felt to have their lips locked gently together. But for two years the two of them had somehow kept their relationship alive and well, despite the distance, and lack of intimacy of touch.

Wade took a moment at the darkened screen to see the reflection of his face, it had lost some of its baby fat, as well as become more defined and unyielding in strength. Two years had turned a flabby boy into a more muscular and **much** taller young man. He again had to thank his angelic girlfriend for pushing him to become more then just a cyber geek. His body was honed in other ways as well, especially since he had achieved his third black belt, under Kim's tutelage and while he still not go out on missions regularly, when he did his presence was very much known to Team Possible's adversaries.

The thoughts of Joss's own developments enticed Wade's thoughts even further. While she had kept her slim and trim look, Joss had become more fit and graceful with her movements. He had remembered many times where she had shown off a few of her moves to him, mixing her gymnastics with her marital arts, much like her cousin had done with her cheerleading skills. The difference was that she flowed more freely with her movements instead of a focused and determined style that he had seen many of times with Kim. Yet Joss over the two years had also began to fill out, just enough so that it made Wade's toes curl when he looked at her sometimes. Not that Joss would have ever been able to tell since they had never been near enough to have her see his toes.

Picking up a sports drink, which replaced his slurpies a year or so ago, Wade knew why he was pondering so much on his relationship with her. The holiday season was one where family had come together, at least that one time of year to share the warmth and love that seemed to keep escaping the Load family, at least these days.

His thoughts turned angrily at his father, for leaving them two years ago. Though his mother had practically begged Wade to forgive him, there was in his heart a big hole that was left upon the divorce. Since then he had not seen his surviving grandparents, nor did any of his aunts or uncles come by to visit. His family, Wade thought, had all but abandoned him.

Rising up to his full height Wade closed his eyes and forced himself to become sincerely happy. Again thinking to himself of all of the things that God had graced him with. A loving mother, great friends, and even a beloved though the two had never once been together. He finally mustered up enough of a smile that he was ready to face Christmas with just his mother. This year was going to be especially hard on both of them, him in particular because most of his friends were out of town; Kim and Ron were joining the rest of the Possibles in Florida, Monique and Felix had decided to travel to some snowy resort to get lost in for a few days; Joss herself in Florida, had expressed that she was going to be unavailable because Nana had wanted them to be 'tech' free for the holiday season.

But, being the 'man' of the house, he had to show strength and resolve to show his mother that they could be just as strong without dad. Walking out of his room, he looked once more to see if that little 'danger' light had not triggered, which it only did when GJ had put a hit on Kim's site. Thankfully, it seemed, the villains had taken the holiday off as well. Tugging on his dress shirt, Wade slowly took the stairs down to the living room.

"Hey Mom." Wade said in a deeper bass voice. "Do you need any help in the kitchen?" He had already knew the answer, 'no', but he had to ask. Then he saw something very odd, both the kitchen door, and the dining room door had been closed shut. Pushing a bit he felt that the door was being held up by something, as he was unable to open it without putting some weight behind it. "Hey Mom, why are the doors closed?" He asked instead of opening the door.

"We are going to have some family coming over… they called in at the last minute. I've got dinner almost ready and I know that you've been banging on the keyboards all day long, so go wash up now." He heard his mother say through the kitchen door. Giving one more futile push he could hear his mother say, "Wade Load, go on now, I'll let you into the dining room in a few minutes."

"Who's coming over?" Wade asked slightly agitated and unnerved by the fact that family was coming over. The last he heard, they but all ostracized the two of them, half for marrying his father, and the other for divorcing him. _'This is going to be ackweird to the max.' _Wade thought to himself listening to his mother's response.

"Your family is coming over, Wade, now quit stalling and get to scrubbing." He heard his mother say sternly. That was the voice that Wade did not even question at all. The tone went right up there with using his middle name to get his attention, and that was when he knew that he was in trouble.

He took off right back up the stairs, taking three steps at a time, nearly hitting his head on the ceiling on the way up those narrow small steps. _'This was never a problem when I was short and pudgy.'_ He thought to himself banefully, finally able to stand up to his full height again at the top, turning right for the bathroom. Again, looking in the mirror, the gootee was a good touch to his more muscular features, he thought washing his hands and face. Joss, had teased that whenever she saw him for the first time she was going to tug on it to make sure that it was real. _'Besides' she said slyly one night, 'Ah guess Ah have ta have somethin' to hang on to while kissin' ya.'_

He shook off that particular thought, as he finished up scrubbing his hands. Toweling himself he thought of the small conversation that he just had with his mother:

His family.

What defined his family anyway… the only people who were blood relative to him that he wanted anything to do with was his mother. Everyone else had seemed to abandon them, and if they couldn't be their family and not just his, then they still could hang themselves for all that he cared.

Then he took a moment to picture in his mind what 'his' family would be like:

His Mother of course would be his Mother… there was no one in the world that would ever replace her. He could see Kim and Ron as his sibling, though one would technically have to be an in-law, considering Ron had proposed to Kim six months ago. Felix and Monique would be like cousins to him, as the three of them had become closer together since Wade decided to become an active participant in the real world, as well as cyberspace. (In that case Monique was the in-law considering that he couldn't see her as a blood relative considering the crush he had on her those years ago) _'Face it, its because she a fine woman as well.' _He thought to himself. The Possibles and the Stoppables were definitely a collection of Aunts and Uncles, who opened their homes to Wade and his Mother upon his Father leaving them. As Wade allowed his mind to fantasize, if they could ever be **physically** close to one another, Joss as his wife. _'If that's the case then Kim is definitely an in-law.' _Wade thought to himself, '_Everyone, together, as one big happy family_.' It was a wonderful fantasy, but sadly Wade considered himself as he looked once more into the looking glass, a fantasy.

A faint knock on the door caught his attention as he could hear his Mother calling out to him to answer the door. "OKAY, MOM, I'LL GET THE DOOR." He shouted downstairs, as he took three breaths to calm down his raging thoughts between bitterness and anger at the betrayal of his family. Finally, he forced himself to have a pleasant smile, if for no other reason then to be a strong man for Mother. Tugging on his dress shirt again, something that Kim had started to call the, 'Wade Maneuver', which he did whenever he felt uncomfortable.

And nothing was as uncomfortable as having his 'family' over for Christmas dinner. Taking another strong deep breath, he reached to the doorway and turned the knob. It was to his utter shock and surprise when he saw two very familiar faces at his front door.

Sucking in a breath, in disbelief he said, "Kim, Ron? What are you doing here, I thought you were in Florida?" Bewilderment was met with two very warm and loving smiles from his friends.

Ron spoke first, "We're freezing our beegeebus off out here, wanna let us in Wade – ole buddy?" Rufus popped out of the pocket of Ron's Khaki Pants as if to take a bow on stage saying 'Sweprise!' As Wade stepped away from the door, Ron allowed Kim to enter first as she gave him a hug.

Kim gave a smile and backed up a bit, mockingly threw a punch to his chest she said half-jokingly, "After all that you've done for us? We couldn't very well leave you and your Mother to be by yourselves this year. Are you mental?" Ron followed suit giving the big man a hug entering the house.

"But… what about Nana, and your parents?" Wade asked as he had his and on the handle of the door getting ready to push it closed, "I thought you guys were going to spend it with family with the engagement and all?"

"We are." Ron said in a serious tone, handing a small box to Wade. "Kim and I talked about it and we decided that it was going to be alright having one Christmas without the whole Possible/Stoppable clan around. We decided to spend it with you this year, you know for something small and quiet." He laced his fingers with Kim's as he kissed her hair and hugged her at the waist.

To say Wade was thunderstruck was an understatement. Shaking his head he tried once again to close the door, hoping that the second that it would take to do a simple task would bring sense to what was going on in his living room. The forward motion was halted as he felt someone push against the door suddenly. Looking around he could again not believe his eyes.

"Your gonna lets us in aren't you? As much as I want to get some TLC snuggleness from my baby boy, I'm sure I can get just as much inside in the heat as well as out here in the cold." Wade could almost hear the smirk come from the very familiar feminine voice.

"Monique? Felix? How? Why?" It was odder to see them then it was with Kim and Ron. They had actually left for the little trip to the mountains two days previous. He was literally almost ready to fall over with this surprise.

"Hey man, the why should be obvious." Felix answered as he gave Wade a high-five entering the doorway, Monique got out of Felix's lap and gave Wade a peck on the cheek, "How come? Well, let's just say that we decided to bring in the New Year with a Bang but having Christmas with you, was pretty important to us, especially after Ron called letting us know what was going on."

"We couldn't just let the brains behind Team Possible feel left out in the cold." Monique said with an odd all knowing smirk. "That would have been R.C. and S.U. in any event, I heard that you Mom was going to get us some righteous grub goin' on, so where can we get down to the eats."

"She's been a bit hungry." Felix said taking hold of his wife by the hand, "And she's been getting a bit more pushy these days."

"You would be too if you were getting ready to have a person grow inside of you." Monique grimaced as she stared at her husband lovingly banefully. Ron and Kim stood there a bit shocked themselves about the news as she continued, "See how you would act with your body changing almost everyday"

Wade smiled as he watched the married couple a bit, it was funny to watch the two of them act, they seemed like they knew each other forever, and not for only four years, only six months of which were in marital 'bliss'. Ron had even made the mistake of asking Monique if they were somehow Jewish by the way they gave one another grief. It earned him a black eye.

Again Wade went to close the door, only to have Monique once again stopping him from doing so, "Nu uh, big guy, there's one more person, whose here for dinner."

Quietly, he wondered who else was going to surprise him, as he turned around and stopped breathing for a moment.

There she stood, standing shyly with her gloved hands clutched together, her slender form he would have known anywhere. Her hair barely noticeable underneath her toboggan, which seemed to go well with her deep green coat she seemed to have a loss for words at first. As he stepped out of the doorway, the others stood behind and silently watched, as Joss spoke up in a barely audible voice, "When ya told me that you were going to have Christmas by yourself, Ah asked Dad to let me come with the others." She took a swallow as she looked into his eyes, and took his hands into hers, "Ah knew that you needed me, us, I mean, and I… we couldn't very well let you down. Ah shoot… to heck with it." She suddenly moved a step forward and grabbed his gootee. "Merry Christmas Wade." He leaned, following her lead down holding her head in his hands and passionately kissed her.

"Hoo.. wee!" He could hear from behind, as Ron gave a whistle. "Mon… Ron, quit that." Kim had protested playfully. Wade could also hear another set of footsteps coming behind him as well, "You two do that any longer and your going to melt all of the snow off of the ground." Wade could tell that was his Mother, and while most circumstances he would be thoroughly embarrassed, at this point he didn't care.

After a few more moments, the two young loves broke from their kiss, and simply held each other for just a bit longer. Neither saying a word, not wanting quite to break the magical moment for a bit longer. He held her stroking her soft hair, which distinctively smelled like strawberries for some reason. Blinking a few tears away, he could see two that Joss herself was weeping a bit. Gently he brushed them away as she leaned into his hand again. Finally, he turned back toward the crowd at the doorway, clearing his throat Wade spoke, "Mom, I would like to introduce to you my girlfriend, Joss Possible. Joss, this is my Mom, Paula Wade."

"Mrs. Wade, it's a pleasure to meetcha at last." Joss said in a more confident tone, allowing the moment of uncertainty pass, "Your son is a rather, awesome guy." Joss gave one last squeeze to Wade as she disengaged herself from him.

His Mother looked very approvingly at Joss as she walked up and gave her a hug as well, "Wade has told me all about you… I am blessed that you have come into his life, and given him a reason to come out of his room." The hug was deepened toward the end, "And you can call me Paula, please I insist." _'Perhaps some day… Mom, as well.' _She thought to herself as she ushered everyone inside and closed the door.

A few moments later, everyone was sitting at the dinner table, talking about fussing about how the holiday was. Kim and Ron had re-told Paula about the whole engagement sitch, having only told their family and Wade. Only Wade himself was silent throughout the whole serving of the meal, quietly passing about the potatoes and cutting the ham for everyone. Then the thought struck him… Kim and Ron had not told anyone else about the engagement except for their family and himself, even Felix and Monique were left in the dark for a few months.

Sitting down, at the head of the dinner table he could see his fantasy, coming to full life right before through his now glassy eyes. Joss must have noticed something was amiss, as she grasped his hand and gave Wade a loving smile. "What's wrong sweety?" She asked quietly, though it got the attention of everyone as they all looked at him, concerned.

Silently, he reached out his hand to Kim's who was sitting opposite to Joss, and nodded to his Mother. His Mother in turn grasped the hands of Ron, and Felix motioning them to hold Monique's and Kim's respectively. Having the circle completed, Wade spoke, "It is said that you can not chose your family, but you can choose your friends. But, as you say Kim, anything's possible, with the Possibles, and I guess that what I am trying to say is that, I have had a rare and wonderful opportunity to choose both my friends and family as well, as we are all gathered here together. God Bless you, everyone."

And God Bless you Everyone.

End


End file.
